Henneth Annun Reseach Center

Places in Middle-earth

Bay of Balar

Description: "… thereafter the Quendi knew nothing of the great Battle of the Powers, save that the Earth shook and groaned beneath them, and the waters were moved, and in the north there were lights as of mighty fires. Long and grievous was the siege of Utumno…. In that time the shape of Middle-earth was changed, and the Great Sea that sundered it from Aman grew wide and deep; and it broke in upon the coasts and made a deep gulf to the southward. Many lesser bays were made between the Great Gulf and Helcaraxë far in the north, where Middle-earth and Aman came nigh together. Of these the Bay of Balar was the chief; and into it the mighty river Sirion flowed down from the new-raised highlands northwards: Dorthonion, and the mountains about Hithlum. "

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 3, Of The Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor

"… it was told that Círdan had saved a remnant of his people and sailed away south to the Bay of Balar, then he sent out messengers anew…"

Unfinished Tales, Part 1, Ch 1, Of Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin

"…Therefore Ulmo uprooted an island which long had stood alone amid the sea, far from either shore … and anchored it in the Bay of Balar, into which Sirion poured his water. Then the Vanyar and the Noldor embarked upon that isle, and were drawn over the sea, and came at last to the long shores beneath the Mountains of Aman…"

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 5, Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië

"… Thence he [The River Sirion] flowed south for one hundred and thirty leagues, gathering the waters of many tributaries, until with a mighty flood he reached his many mouths and sandy delta in the Bay of Balar. …"

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 14, Of Beleriand and Its Realms

"… the grey bay of Balar…"

Morgoth's Ring, HoME Vol 10, Part 2, The Annals of Aman

Etymology
BAL- * bala: Q Vala Power, God…Balar is probably from * balare, and so called because here Osse visited the waiting Teleri.